1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems and methods for advancing and removing or extracting components stored in tubes and more particularly to systems and methods for advancing and extracting electrical components commonly stored in tubes or magazines.
2. Description of the Related Art
To efficiently handle small components after manufacture, components are sometimes placed in long narrow tubes that are completely enclosed except at a proximal and distal end where the components may be inserted or removed. The tubes commonly have a stop pin or plug at the proximal and distal end to secure a plurality of components stored therein. Such tubes are most commonly used to hold small electrical components such as integrated circuits. Such tubes only permit components stored therein to move along the long axis of the tube.
Similarly, magazines having one or more rows may also be employed to store or hold a plurality of such components. Similar to tubes, each row of the magazine comprises a channel configured to allow the components to move only along the long axis of the channel. Unlike tubes, the channels are not typically completely enclosed. Each channel of a magazine usually has an open top groove in addition to an open proximal and distal end. A stop pin at the distal and proximal end of each channel may secure components stored in the channels of a magazine.
During different stages of processing, the components stored in a tube or channel of a magazine may be removed for further processing, analysis, packaging or installation in a circuit, for example. Systems and methods have been developed to remove components from such a tube or magazine to enable further processing of the component. The challenge of such systems and methods have been to advance and remove components from such a tube or channel of a magazine in a singular fashion. Three primary approaches have been employed in prior art systems and methods to perform this function: 1) the employment of gravity, i.e., placing the tube or magazine at an angle relative to its long axis to encourage components therein to slide to one of the ends of the tube or magazine (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,299 to Smith); 2) the employment of vibration energy to cause the advancement of components to an end of a tube or magazine (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,316 to Holcomb et al.); and 3) a combination of 1) and 2), i.e. applying vibrational energy to a tube or magazine held at angle relative to its long axis (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,224 to Kubota).
Other variations exist in the prior art including systems and methods that further employ a tapping mechanism to encourage the advancement of components and the transition from an angular plane to a horizontal plane for handling (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,837 to Schuppert, Jr. et al.) Prior art systems and methods do not always successfully advance components from a tube or channel of a magazine in a single fashion. Components may twist in the tube or channel jamming components in place depending on the tolerances of the tube or channel relative to the components stored therein. In addition, these systems are complex, expensive to build, and expensive to maintain. Thus, the need thus exists for more reliable, cost-effective systems and methods for advancing and removing components from a tube or channel of a magazine in a singular fashion.